Giants Amongst Men
by Oslec44
Summary: Ash is an outcast in Pallet Town, bullied by all the other kids lead by his rival Gary Oak. One day he gets lost in the woods, this leads him to find a giant Pokemon and two similarly large eggs... AU Trainers start aged 16. Smart slightly darker Ash. Not a very good summary so please read.
1. Prologue

**This is rewrite as I wasn't happy with my first chapter, no flames if possible.**

 **Trainers don't start till they are 16 years old**

I don't own Pokemon.

"Yes! Found it!"

Ash had found the Great ball that was the main focus of today's scavenger hunt, set up by Professor Oak at the lab. He quickly added it to his grand collection of a repel, 2 poke balls, a revive, a small amount of poke chow, a super potion and an old fishing rod. He had found the Great ball hidden in the branches of the great Oak in the forest, hidden earlier by the Professor's Alakazam.

Ash made his descent from the tree, swiping his mop of messy jet black hair to the side, he started to make his way home deciding to finish the scavenger hunt on a high.

In the distance he heard a crash in in the undergrowth, he rolled his eyes knowing that it was Gary and his two thugs John and Sam, they had been tailing him ever since the scavenger hunt started, as they couldn't be bothered to do it for themselves.

Knowing what was to come Ash quickly hid the poke balls, poke chow, super potion and revive choosing to sacrifice the Great ball, repel and fishing rod hopefully for less of a beating.

Yes, Ash was beaten up on a regular basis by that arrogant prick and his two brain dead lackeys, don't feel sorry for him though, as his dad Redorick Ketchum used to say:

'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'.

Redorick Ketchum or as everybody else knew him 'Red' was the Kanto champion for 5 years, before suddenly he just disappear off the face of the Earth leaving behind a distraught single mother and an dejected 8 year old child. That was 4 years ago now and although it had been a long process both of the pair had got over it up to a point. Nothing had been quite the same though Professor Oak had tried to accommodate them inviting Ash over to the lab multiple times a week to indulge him with the Pokemon from the coral, (particularly the Growlithe pups) however nothing could fill the void the 'Red' had left behind.

Any way, back to the fact that 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger', that had definitely been the case in this circumstance as Ash was probably fitter than the other 12 year olds in the village due to the fact he had to constantly run from the three thugs that had decided it was their job to torment him in his father's absence.

"Ashy boy" Ash heard, he groaned.

He had company as the three emerged from the undergrowth, Gary who had called had an arrogant smirk on his face that could put a Gengar to shame. Gary was taller than Ash with spiky up brown hair, he and Ash had once been best friends, however ever since they were eight they had hated each other, one day they had found a Pokeball, they couldn't decide who would keep it, he and Ash fought over it and broke it in two, each had kept the broken piece of the ball, though the other didn't know that.

The other two just had scowls on their faces as they entered the clearing, John was the taller of the two with a puggish face green hair down to his shoulder, whilst Sam a very short blonde hair and always seemed to be looking down on you if your name wasn't Gary, both were larger than Ash who was quite small for his age, they quickly grabbed him and forced him to his knees as Gary rummaged around in Ash's pack and found the items that Ash hadn't hidden.

"Very impressive Ashy boy, you even found the Great ball. I think he should be congratulated don't you think guys?" Gary exclaimed with the smirk still on his face.

The two boys grunted with glee as Sam took a swing at Ash and hit him in the stomach, whilst John kicked him hard in the groin. Ash grunted in pain, although not as much as he used to, he had gotten used to it by now, however this just seemed to encourage the bullies more as they beat him black and blue.

"Stop" Gary called after about 5 minutes of punching and kicking "we don't want his mum noticing, do we now Ashy?"

"No" Ash groaned. It was at this point when things went from bad to worse, the two girls of the group that made up the rest of the five adolescents of Pallet Town stumbled upon the clearing that they occupied.

This surprised Ash, the girls had never seen him being beaten before, it pained him to let them see him like this, even though he wasn't great friends with them anyway.

Leaf was the first to emerge, an athletic looking girl with shoulder length brown hair and green eyes with her signature hat on her head, she emerged grinning as though she had just watched a great Pokemon battle, this didn't surprise Ash, as Leaf never had liked Ash as Professor Oak preferred him to her ever since they were little, this had obviously been a little bit of revenge for her. She had sided with Gary when they became rivals, therefore detesting Ash came as part of the job description. She had been born in Pallet town and grew up across the road from Ash although they had never really spoken.

The second girl who emerged was what hit hardest out of the whole thing, harder than the punches even. Cynthia emerged from the undergrowth looking in different to the whole thing, Cynthia had shoulder length blonde hair and coal dark eyes which looked straight into your soul. Cynthia was actually from Sinnoh a far off region, however she had come to learn from Professor Oak, she had been top in her region for her results in the end of year Pokemon tests, however this was only level with Ash and Gary. She was a couple of years older than the rest of the group and would be starting her journey in Sinnoh in 6 years compared to Ash's 8. Therefore her parents had decided in their infinite wisdom to send her to Pallet Town to study with the world renowned Pokemon professor.

Ash had, had a crush on her ever since she had moved in with the Oaks about a month ago. However it was the indifference in her eyes that hurt Ash the most as if she didn't care for his wellbeing what so ever even though she hardly knew him.

'What have I done wrong?' Ash thought to himself.

"What do you think babe?" Gary said as he sauntered over to Cynthia and wrapped his arm round her shoulder. Cynthia immediately shrugged it off. This action had become quite common place, Gary had managed to get it into his thick skull that he and Cynthia were meant for each other and that Cynthia was in love with him, it obviously wasn't the case.

"I am not your 'babe'" Cynthia firmly reminded Gary.

Ash snickered quietly to himself as Cynthia put Gary in his place. Unfortunately Gary heard and immediately stalked over to Ash and punched him hard in the face, this was a first as normally they left his face alone as they didn't want to face the legendary wrath of Delia Ketchum.

"Come on guys, let's leave the wimp here" Gary laughed as he walked away from Ash,

Ash spat blood on the ground the rest swiftly filed in behind none of them paying him any attention apart from Cynthia whose gaze lingered slightly longer than anybody else's as if she almost regretted leaving him, however the look was fleeting as she swiftly followed the other four kids.

Once they were out of sight Ash sluggishly went and grabbed his hidden supplies and replaced them in his pack, before going in the opposite direction to which Gary's group left. After wandering aimlessly for a while Ash couldn't go on as the injuries from his beating were much more severer ham the other beatings he had received, as well as the rather large black eye he had received no thanks to Gary.

Ash dropped down at the base of a small tree and retrieved an Oran berry from his pack which he quickly ate as he rested, whilst taking a look at his surroundings. Everywhere looked the same to him, this was the deepest as had ever been into the forest.

The Oran berry eased some of the pain although it still hurt to move. After about 10 minutes of resting Ash decided to take a look around his new surroundings, before once again struggling to his feet to try and find his way back to Pallet Town.

Ash continued to wander getting hopelessly lost whilst he was at it, he periodically stumbled past a few Rattata and Pidgey at first, however it had been a while since he had seen any other Pokemon, he really was hopeless with his sense of direction. In the distance he heard a small pattering as if it was raining lightly, this sound continued to get louder until it sounded like a full blown thunder clap. Ash turned to the direction which it was coming from, he quickly recognised with a sense of dread that it was the infamous Spearow flock.

The Spearow flock were infamous around Pallet Town since about 4 months ago, when 3 new trainers turned up in Viridian City pecked and scratched to pieces, they had to be transferred to Saffronby helicopter due to their injuries, this seemed to be a recurring theme as each time new trainers went out at least one would be attacked by this particularly viscous group of birds although not as badly as the first 3 trainers.

As soon as Ash saw the group of birds he took off in the opposite direction from which they were coming desperately trying to get away from the bloodthirsty Pokemon. Branches cut his arms and roots tried to trip him as he blundered blindly through the forest, still suffering from his beating earlier Ash was a lot slower than he would have hoped and the birds quickly caught up with him, still Ash pushed on determined to try and get away from the talons and beaks scratching and pecking him.

Suddenly the scratching and pecking stopped as if there was an invisible barrier between him and the Spearow, the birds refused to go any further in the direction in which Ash was travelling as if they were scared or weary of something that lurked in that direction. Ash continued to flee blindly thinking he was still being chased by those evil birds.

The forest was gradually getting darker the further Ash fled into it trying to get away from the Spearow flock, he soon came to a dip in the lay of the ground. When he looked over the edge he saw something that amazed him, for on the ground was a lucario that was ten ft tall sprawled out on the ground completely unconscious, he was a least twice the size of the lucario he had seen in the pokedex who was an average specimen at about four and a half ft.

"How are you so big?" Ash thought out loud as he approached the massive creature.

With a closer look Ash saw that the lucario was in a very bad way, with a large gash on his right calf and his right arm twisted at an odd angle, what was worse though was the fact that one of the spikes protruding from his hands had broken off entirely.

This was not good!

Ash quickly retrieved the revive and the super potion from his pack, before cautiously approaching the creature ignoring the pain inflicted by Gary and the spearow flock, he had learned from Oak that a startled Pokemon is a dangerous Pokemon especially one with this much potential considering it's size. Ash broke open the revive case and poured the powder into the blue beast's mouth before retreating 10 metres as a precautionary measure.

The lucario stirred from it's sleep slowly waking up groaning in pain as it did. It quickly noticed Ash at the edge of the clearing. Ash felt like his head had been hit by a locomotive as all of his memories from his life flashed before his eyes, as if on tape. It stopped as suddenly as it begun.

"Thank you for your help chosen one" he heard the deep voice in his mind, he looked at the lucario who just nodded. Ash wondered what he meant by chosen one.

"Do you want this?" Ash had held out the super potion which he had. "It will help you with your wounds" he said as an afterthought trying to reassure the Pokemon.

"Yes if that is okay with you Chosen one" the Pokemon answered, Ash then approached the Pokemon and sprayed the potion on the lucario's gashes and cuts and stepped back as they started to knit together recovering.

"Sorry I can't do anything for your arm" Ash muttered under his breath as he stepped back.

"That is no worry, you have done more than enough" he heard the ancient voice in his head again "and as for your earlier question, you have been chosen by Arceus to hold the original aura and protect the world from the coming threat in his absence, the last person to have that privilege was the Sir Aaron that you have heard of in legend".

"WHAT?" Ash yelled. Everybody had heard the legends of Arceus the supposed God Pokemon that brought this world into existence, as well as the creation trio Palkia, Dialga and Giratina, although few actually believed the tales.

"You are of pure heart, as you have just shown by healing me, for which I thank you Chosen one" the lucario bowed to him "as a show of thanks I have three gifts, one of which you would have received anyway just at a later date. The gift of understanding and being able to speak to Pokemon is one which no other human has ever had even Sir Aaron himself couldn't manipulate his aura to understand all Pokemon, I am able to unlock some of your aura abilities now", Ash nodded in response giving the lucario permission to do so.

Ash gasped as he felt like there was a warmth through out his body as if he had just been in the bath, a few seconds later it subsided.

"Thank you, I always seemed to be much better around Pokemon than humans anyway" Ash said bitterly recalling his earlier encounter with Gary and his thugs.

"Do not worry chosen one you have a great destiny, greater than any of those humans" the lucario continued "the other two gifts are of great importance for they are the last of their kind that I know of other than I. They possess the king's nature that gives them a much greater size and power than the rest of their species" the lucario stepped to the side leaving two eggs that were as big as Ash "as I am sure you could tell I have great power, even in this state I am on a par on what you describe as a Champion's Pokemon, these Pokemon will be on the same level as me if not greater, able to challenge even the legendaries" lucario said to Ash through the aura link they had.

Ash's eyes increased to the size of Pokeballs at this point at the great power these two Pokemon could possess, as he approached the eggs one of which the bigger of the two one was a dark blue colour with a brown colour around its base, whilst the other slightly smaller being about the height of Ash was green with a ruby red patch on the front. He could feel a pull towards the two eggs almost as if the two Pokemon inside were calling to him.

"Our kind has been hunted to the brink of extinction by poachers, who incidentally are the cause of my injuries right now, however I managed to teleport just before they captured me" Ash let the breath go that he was holding, imagining the power of this lucario in the wrong hands was a scary prospect indeed

"When you touch them they will hatch" the great Pokemon called "they have been waiting for the right trainer or their mother for the past millennia" lucario explained

"What happened to their parents?" Ash questioned surprised that they hadn't been hatched by their mother's.

"They died before they were ready to hatch in the Great War between Arceus and his brother Omegus the omega Pokemon the opposite to Arceus, both were royalty of their species a killed many thousands of enemies before succumbing to Omegus himself" Lucario frowned and his eyes glazed over as if reliving a vile memory.

"Were you there?" Ash asked curious about the Great pokemon's past, he looked very old and withered although still maintaining an aura of great power.

"Yes, although I was just an Riolu at the time" he recalled, before looking back to Ash "when you touch the eggs they will hatch, so be careful, the Pokemon inside them will imprint upon you as if you were their mother, be prepared, because you will have to look after them".

'I know someone who would love to help me with that particularly if they are as rare as the lucario suggests and I have no reason to doubt him' Ash thought as he speculated over whether Professor Oak and his Mother would help him in raising the Pokemon. He decided yes and walked over to touch the eggs.

As he put his hand on each of the eggs they started to glow, getting brighter until Ash couldn't look anymore forcing himself to turn away as his eyes began to burn. When he looked back after the glow had finished he saw two Pokemon which he had never seen before, one was green with a red stomach and a horn on its head, whilst the other was a very short blue shark with stubby legs and a massive mouth.

Thanks for reading, any reviews and constructive criticism will be well received

Oslec44 signing out


	2. New beginnings

**At last, I hated writing this chapter, but thanks for the support from the last one.**

 **I also rewrote the last chapter so it links with the rest of the story better making some obvious changes.**

 **Once again I don't own Pokemon.**

Over the next 4 years Ash became even more of an outcast in Pallet Town, preferring to be in the company of Pokemon rather than humans. Professor Oak became a father like figure to him, whilst his mother became a pillar of his existence. At the lab he was taught about types of Pokemon, which type was resistant, immune or effective to each of the other types. He was also taught about how to train and care for both Larvitar and Gible once they were old enough, so that he could become a Pokemon master as was his dream. Once he knew how to care for his own Pokemon he began to learn about the rest of the Pokemon in Kanto, their types and moves.

In return Ash helped out on the coral looking after the baby and injured Pokemon, as he was able to communicate and understand them better than anyone else in the whole of Kanto due to his aura abilities. He also helped out in some of the research Oak was doing, he slowly became more and more advanced in his studies of Pokemon, surpassing all the others his age, even Gary and Cynthia, who were considered prodigies. He eventually became a junior assistant professor at the lab, specialising in pseudo and semi-pseudo legendary Pokemon.

Once he became a professor Ash was allowed to have four Pokemon before he was sixteen and an extra four slots on top of the standard six slots for the average trainer on their journey.

Flashback

Lucario used extremespeed to run Ash and his new Pokemon to the edge of Pallet town, where he left with a few wise words.

"Use you gift wisely chosen one, for many will lust after you and your Pokemon" the deep voice advised.

After once again using extremespeed, he disappeared off into the forest.

Ash walked into Pallet Town and up to the Professor's door, he firmly knocked on it. The door opened thirty seconds later, a grey haired ageing man in a white overcoat opened the door before exclaiming.

"My god Ash were have you been the past couple hours and why do you as if you have been dragged through a hedge backwards, your mother and I have been worried sick?", Ash looked up sheepishly, before presenting the two pokeballs that now held his two newly hatched Pokemon.

"I got distracted sir" Ash claimed innocently.

Once he was invited in and checked that Gary wasn't home he proceeded to release the two Pokemon in the pokeballs. Oak's eyebrows disappeared up into his hair before he he spoke "where did you get such a large Gible and Larvitar Ash?" As the two took up most of the spare space at the lab. Ash looked relieved that he wasn't being reprimanded for using the two pokeballs that were part of the scavenger hunt, before he started recounting his adventure, less the part that involved Gary and his cronies.

"Distracted indeed, quite the adventure you've had there young Ketchum. We had better call your Mother before she has a stroke worrying about you". Five minutes later Ash was on the phone once again recounting his story to a frantic Delia Ketchum.

"I'm sorry I worried you Mum, but I got kinda distracted"

Flashback end

Ash was continually spurred on by the professor who had become very prideful of his student, sharing all of his research and developments with the other regional professors and their chosen students, none of which were in the same league as Ash.

When Ash wasn't in the lab researching, or in the coral dealing with the wild Pokemon, he was training Larvitar and Gible. Their training was helped greatly by Oak as he was a champion in his youth and Ash used his training methods on his two Pokemon. Although quite intimidating at first both Larvitar and Gible managed to start training with Oak's Dragonite after a couple of years, however they were never any match for the beast, even when working together they were completely decimated in battle.

Both Gible and Larvitar were extraordinary Pokemon, they were both very rare species from regions other than Kanto. They had kings nature which meant that they were huge, both being about three times the average size of the rest of their own species. Gible was seven ft tall, whilst Larvitar was a mere six ft in height. It also became increasingly clear to Ash and Oak that both of the Pokemon were massively more powerful than the rest of their species as they challenged some of the strongest Pokemon on the coral even at such a young age.

Ash became a lot colder to all the other kids at Pallet Town, constantly having a scowl on his face when he was around them. He no longer cried out when they hit him, he just took the beating in silence, which disconcerted the other kids. Slowly the tried harder and harder to make him cry out, by the age of 15 Ash had managed to reinforce his body with aura wherever they hit him and use heal pulse out of necessity due to all the beatings he got.

Cynthia was the only person who could get a reaction out of Ash. The only smile they ever saw from Ash after he was 12 years old was when Cynthia received a Gible from her family in Sinnoh, although an impressive specimen in itself, it didn't hold a candle to Ash's, which was twice its size. It amused Ash to see Cynthia so excited about a so called powerhouse being the corner stone of her team when she was a trainer in the future.

Flashback

Cynthia was walking up to the lab to get her Gible checked out so she could start her Pokemon journey, she was allowed to go 1 year earlier than everyone else in Pallet Town due to the fact she was a year older, she had decided to delay for the last 6 months so she could start training her Gible which was now on the brink of evolution, it's legs and arms were starting to lengthen and its blue skin tone was starting to darken. Said Gible was walking along aside with his head held high, proud of the fact it was so powerful.

As she walked into the lab, she saw a kid about her age with messy black hair talking to the professor which his back to her and laughing whilst stroking the Arcanine that Professor Oak owned and gained when he was the Kanto champion. He was quite lean with a thin layer of muscle on his arms where he had obviously been working on the coral with the Pokemon. Cynthia was curious having never seen anyone like that in Pallet before, she walked up to the two people inside the lab.

"Professor, could I please have my Gible checked out before I leave", both the man and the boy turned around, Cynthia gasped it was that kid that all the others hated, they had said he abused Pokemon when he was younger; then why was he at the lab with the Professor? Surely the professor wouldn't trust him with other Pokemon if he abused them.

"Of course, Ash here is an expert in pseudo-legendaries particularly the Garchomp and Tyrannitar evolutionary lines", the Professor gestured towards the boy standing next to him, who now sported a look of cold indifference a vast change to what it had been just moments earlier. Ash grabbed a tape measure and scales as he strode over to Cynthia and her Gible.

Ash knelt down to take measurements calling out to the Professor various dimensions and analysis's of her Gible's health and size. The result was a Pokemon in perfect health, if slightly larger than the average meme era of her species.

"But your a ..." Cynthia exclaimed under her breath. Taken aback by the authority and care in which Ash handled her Gible. She had always just assumed what the other kids had said was true and he deserved the beatings.

"A what? Pokemon abuser!" Ash burst out entirely unsurprised by her presumptions, due to the fact she had spent so much time around Gary and the rest of the Pallet town kids. He knew they spread false rumours about him being a Pokemon abuser amongst other things.

"Is that what they told you about me? Is that how they justified it?" He continued slowly getting more worked up with every word that came out of his mouth. "Is that why you just watched every time? You didn't even bother to ask, just believed what you were told!", at this point Professor Oak could hear from across the room what Ash was saying.

"You know what, you were the worst, watching me getting beaten up like it was some sort of spectator sport. You didn't have any reason not to help me, no grudge, no history and yet you still just watched with your cold indifference" Ash was all but shouting at this point, he had bottled up his emotions for so long, now he had broken.

"I thought you were different, you were smart and kind when you first arrived, but in the end you were just another fucking sheep that followed bloody Gary Oak around, like a trained ape!", Ash turned round and stormed out of the lab after finishing his tirade.

Cynthia turned round looking at the Professor for support, yet all she saw was disappointment in his eyes, he had believed she would see past the prejudice that all the other kids bear towards Ash.

"Go back to the house" Oak said distain clear within his voice. Cynthia fled from the lab not able to believe what had just transpired breaking down in to tears as she left, out of the corner of her eye she saw the Ketchum boy watching her as she ran.

Cynthia left by the end of the week deciding to start her Pokemon journey in her home region of Sinnoh away from all the troubles that befell her in Kanto.

Flashback end

As Ash was nearing the end of his time in Pallet and his sixteenth birthday was closing in, when he caught his third Pokemon...

Flashback

Ash had been out by the lake in the corral working with a particular Gyrados, this particular Gyrados was having problems with its own species because of its shy nature, however all other Pokemon were still weary of her due to the reputation of rage and uncontrolled aggression her species was legendary for.

Ash was on his way back to the lab when he was tackled by a black missile. Ash managed to make an aura shield quickly enough so that there wasn't any lasting damage. He had been developing his powers that the giant lucario had unlocked in him 2 years ago although he had trouble making aura spheres he could enhance his body and create decent shields good enough that they could protect against a charging ryhorn (yes, he had tried it).

The black blur skidded to a rest on the opposite side of the clearing they were in about 10 metres from Ash.

As Ash turned to look at it he realised it was a pure black riolu. The small jackel once again charged appearing to prepare what looked like the move Force Palm. Ash dodged the blow returning the favour by tripping the Pokemon up on its way past, making it fall over and crash into a tree on the edge of the clearing further enraging the small Pokemon.

Whilst the Riolu was down Ash released Larvitar from its ball, calling him to the battlefield in his stead.

"Use sandstorm" Ash called as he released the oversized Pokemon, Larvitar immediately whipped up a powerful wind, picking up the dirt and sticks from the clearing to create a makeshift sandstorm, "now use rock slide and finish with dark pulse", quickly transitioning from one move to the next the rock type swiftly accosted the foreign foe with massive amounts of damage creating a large dust cloud.

About 30 seconds later the dust settled and the battle appeared to be over, yet the black jackel emerged from the cloud on its last legs with a red energy surrounding it, as well as a blue glow on in its right paw. "It used endure!" Ash exclaimed, just before his unsuspecting Larvitar was hit in the gut by a full power Force Palm.

"Quick Larvitar, get up and use rock slide to defend yourself" Ash called from the side line as he saw the Riolu powering up yet another Force Palm, Larvitar pulled itself to its feet managing to slam its feet on the ground to create a rock slide just before the Riolu could hit it with another attack.

The foreign Pokemon took the rock slide full on; it was already on its last legs since using endure to weather the earlier onslaught from Larvitar. It hit the ground with swirls in its eyes just before it was enveloped in a red light as Ash lobbed a pokeball at it. The pokeball shuffled for a few seconds before dinging to acknowledge a successful capture.

"Well done Larvitar, brilliant job!" Ash yelled from the edge of the clearing. "I got careless and was hit." was the deadpan response he got from the Pokemon that had just won his first real Pokemon battle. Ash smiled at his friend who was too serious for his own good, before making his way back to the lab.

Once back at the lab Ash healed the Riolu using the machines available and released it from the pokeball which held it.

"Greetings master"

Flashback end

Ring, ring, ring.

Ash's alarm clock sounded, it was 7:30am, at 10:00am he would be starting his journey to become Pokemon master.

Pokemon so far:

Larvitar (giant):

Ability: Pure power

Hidden ability: Moxie

Moves: Bite, Dark pulse, Rock slide, Leer and Sandstorm

Egg move (s): Superpower and Dragon Claw

Personality: serious, can come across as cold or arrogant

Meeting: Egg in forest around Pallet Town

Gible (giant):

Ability: speed boost

Hidden ability: Moxie

Moves: Bite, Sand attack and Growl

Egg move (s): Draco meteor and Earthquake

Personality: Very friendly thinks he is the strongest in the world

Meeting: Egg in forest around Pallet Town

Riolu (all black):

Ability: Inner Focus

Hidden ability: Mega launcher

Moves: Endure, Foresight, Force Palm and Quick Attack

Egg move (s): Sky Uppercut

Personality: Insightful and Friendly

Meeting: Pokemon coral before journey

 **I am a ray shipping supporter so don't read too much into the Cynthia scene, she will be back but not for a while.**

 **The team is a bit OP so far and I'm thinking of adding 1 more shiny, so feedback is welcome.**

 **Thanks for all the support again.**

 **Oslec44 signing out**


	3. The Benefactor

**Thanks for the support again, some really interesting reviews that I enjoyed reading them, over 100 favourites already.**

 **Explanations:**

Both Delia and Oak knew about it to some extent, but they didn't think it was that serious, hence that lack of action on his part, they thought it was just boys being competitive and teasing.

Leaf is another sheep that will move away from Gary when the Pokemon journey starts and will end up on good terms with Ash.

Yes Ash will snap at some point but it will be over his pokemon's health not his own.

 **On with the story**

Ring, ring, ring.

Ash's alarm clock sounded, it was 7:30am, at 10:00am he would be starting his journey to become Pokemon master. Ash rolled towards the ringing slamming his hand down on the clock with a little more force than necessary.

"Time to start the day master" Riolu called through their aura bond from the bottom of the bed. Once Riolu had been captured about a month ago he had immediately activated a little known phenomenon called an aura bond between himself and Ash. The bond allowed Ash to communicate with Riolu. A week later this also applied for Larvitar and Gible, who were happy they could now speak to their father/trainer.

After some grumbling from Ash and encouragement from Riolu, Ash eventually got out of the bed and did his morning workout regime of 50 press ups and 25 pull ups. He had been doing this far a number of years now due to reading in a book that a healthy body and good fitness would help his journey, he decided against jogging today.

Once he had completed his workout Ash wandered down stairs grabbing the 3 light grey pokeballs that held his friends, when he reached the kitchen he started to prepare breakfast - pancakes with fruit and maple syrup - he had learned how to cook from a young age, because of his mother's encouragement and help. Whilst he was at it he also got some pokechow which his mother had shown him how to do as well.

Ash had been preparing for his Pokemon journey from the age of 12 when he received Larvitar and Gible, training them to the best of his ability. Professor Oak had suggested that he helped teaching Ash all that he thought would be helpful for the journey, hence Ash's ability to make pokechow amongst other things.

Releasing Gible and Larvitar into the garden with Riolu, Ash put out two small mountains of pokechow for the two giants.

"Today's the day guys" Ash exclaimed, excited about finally starting and perhaps adding another friend to the family.

"Really boss, I hadn't realised. It's not as if you haven't been counting down for the last 6 months and making sure we know every single bloody day!" Larvitar replied. Larvitar was as sarcastic as they come, always coming out with amusing quips, a complete opposite to Riolu who took everything Ash said as law.

Ash sweat dropped as his excitement was quickly shot down by the green pokemon's sense of humour. Gible snickered in the back ground at Ash's reaction enjoying the reaction of the boy.

"Cheer up Ash we all know Larvitar is at that time in the month" Gible called cheekily from beside Larvitar. He was assaulted by a less than pleased Larvitar who punched him on his rather large jaw.

"Shut up you overgrown pair of lips, your just jealous of my height and useable arms" Larvitar taunted back at Gible, Ash managed to stop them before it turned into an all out brawl, the last one had destroyed one of the garden's fences. Fortunately the Ketchum was on a hill isolated from the rest of village so it didn't really matter anyway.

"We're just about to head down to the lab, so no training at the moment" Ash decided once they had all finished their breakfasts. Before Ash returned the two Pokemon Gible walked over to Larvitar.

"It's time" Gible said.

"At fuckin' last, if you hadn't been so sentimental we would have done this weeks ago" Larvitar burst out, before both of the Pokemon exploded into bright white light. Ash looked on in awe as his two longtime friends evolved in front of him.

Gible to over twice the size of Ash, his jaw narrowed and head ended up smaller than before. His arms and legs grew until they were recognisable limbs instead of stubby appendages off his body. Beside him Larvitar levitated off the ground, before his arms and legs shrunk into his body, his head was covered by what looked like a mask with eyeholes and he changed colour, his bulk increased and he grew another two foot in size being considerably larger than Ash but not as larger as his brother.

When the light died down standing there instead of a Gible and Larvitar was a much more imposing Gabite and Pupitar, the second stage evolution for Tyranitar and Garchomp.

"..." Ash was speechless.

"What? Nothing! Is it really that bad?" Pupitar asked looking around "Ahhh my god I've lost my legs!" When he realised he was hovering.

"Well you look like an oversized pinecone!" Riolu piped up from Ash's side laughing out loud at his friends predicament, having been watching the exchange with growing incredulity.

"You're both amazing" Ash finally manage to get over his surprise and respond to his two unsure Pokemon.

"Ha! Who has the arms now pinecone head?" Gabite exclaimed with delight, at last he didn't have to use his mouth for everything. It was time for revenge. He dashed over and hit Pupitar on the back of the before retreating before the slower Pokemon could even turn around.

"Arghhh, you son of a ..." Pupitar started.

"What is going on out here?" Delia Ketchum stumble out into the garden, she had straight brown hair that framed her heart-shaped face and kind brown eyes, "Ohhh my, well done you two!" She said looking at the two recently evolved Pokemon. Delia was the only person other person apart from Professor Oak and Ash that knew about the two giants.

The two Pokemon had been kept a secret till they could defend themselves, due to rarity and power of the two specimens could capture the wrong type of attention with Pokemon poachers and hunters being drawn to them.

"I'm heading to the lab mum" Ash shouted over his shoulder as he started towards the rest of the Pallet Town, the town of champions.

Why is it called that you may ask, because of Red Ketchum the undefeated champion and Blue Oak the shortest ever champion, also known as Gary's dad. Now you know the root of all Gary's jealousy and hatred of Ash. It all stemmed from their father's rivalry and Blue Oak's fall from grace at the hands of Red Ketchum.

"You better come back and see me before you set off Ash, or there will be hell to pay!", the whole group shivered all knowing the wrath of Delia Ketchum and not wanting to experience it again. Once they were near the rest of Pallet town ash drew all of his three pokeballs.

"Sorry guys" he said surprising the three Pokemon, he really didn't want to hear their complaints. 'Gods they are gonna be pissed later' he thought to cringing to himself, before hiding them his backpack and making his way into the village towards the Lab.

Ash wanted to get there early so he didn't have to see the other kids getting their Pokemon, but due to the unexpected evolving of two of his Pokemon he was about on time arriving at the lab at about 10:00 just in for the rest of the Pallet town kids to stampede in. The other three were John, Leaf and Gary; Paul wasn't going on a journey because his parents wanted him to work in the family business.

Ash schooled his features as he approached the lab putting on a mask of indifference that he held around everyone apart from his mother and the professor. 'Don't let them see weakness, it will only encourage them' he thought to himself.

A woman in a white lab coat greeted them as they entered the lab, "Hello" she said warmly at Ash, she already knew who he was due to his work with Professor Oak, "you must be the new trainers. Follow me and I'll take you to Professor Oak". They walked through the lab in silence none of them prepared to talk to each other due to the underlying hostilities of the group.

There were 3 pokeballs on a table in the centre of the lab, with Professor Oak standing next to the table with 3 small red tablets in his hand 'probably their pokedexs' Ash thought, 'hang on a minute! Why are there only 3'. As if seeing Ash's surprise, Professor raised an eyebrow at him subtly telling him to keep quiet. Each of the pokeballs had a different symbol on them, one had a flame presumably symbolising Charmander, a leaf for Bulbasaur and a water drop for Squirtle.

"Looks like your not getting one" Gary crowed from beside Ash, trying to get a rise out of Ash with the fact that there was only 3 pokeballs on the table, all he got in return was a look of indifference.

"That's enough thank you Gary" the Professor quickly intervened from in front of them, sending Gary a scathing glare. Gary hadn't been in his grandfather's good books since he had found out about him bullying Ash.

Gary snorted turning away from Ash towards the pokeballs in the lab "I'll pick first" Gary declared quickly marching up to the table which led the pokeballs, "Squirtle I choose you!" Quickly picking up the middle pokeball with the water droplet on it and releasing the larger than average blue turtle.

Paul and Leaf then walked up to the table picking Charmander and Bulbasaur respectively, both releasing their chosen Pokemon.

"Now on to the pokedexs" Oak called from behind the table that once held the pokeballs, he handed out a red machine to each of the three 16 year olds, who then excitably scanned their Pokemon.

 **Bulbasaur the seed Pokemon. A strange seed is planted on the Bulbasaur's back since birth. The plant sprout and grows with the Pokemon. This Bulbasaur is female and has the ability Overgrow. Bulbasaur knows the moves: Tackle, Growl and Leech seed. I has the egg move Frenzy Plant, but it has not been unlocked yet.**

 **Charmander the lizard Pokemon. From the time it is born, a flame burns in the tip of its tail. When it dies the flame goes out. This Charmander is female and has the ability Blaze. Charmander knows the moves: Scratch, Growl and Ember. It has the egg move Flare Blitz, but it has not been unlocked yet.**

 **Squirtle the tiny turtle Pokemon. When it retracts it's long neck into it's shell, it squirts out water with vigorous force. This Squirtle is male and has the ability torrent. Squirtle knows the moves: Tackle, Tail whip, Water gun and Withdraw. It has the egg moves Hydro cannon and Aqua Ring, but they haven't been unlocked yet.**

"Wow, these pokedexs are awesome Professor!" said Paul as he dashed out the lab looking to get a head start on the other two trainees that had just received their Pokemon and pokedexs. Leaf quickly followed thanking the Professor before leaving the lab as well. Fortunately had thought to give them each five pokeballs before they rushed out the lab.

"Looks like you really don't get a Pokemon Ashy Boy!" cried Gary with glee, turning round to face Ash eyes shining with glee at the fact he didn't get a starter 'What a prick!', Ash glared at him before Gary barged past the raven haired boy in his rush to get out of the lab.

"Smell ya later dickhead" he heard as the door closed behind Gary.

"Sorry about him, he's always been brash and egotistical, the worst parts of his father and his mother combined" the professor said to Ash "although he does have his redeeming qualities" he claimed.

"I'll believe it when I see it professor" Ash said in a cold voice that left no room for argument "he has inferiority complex the size of Kanto when it comes to me, until he gets over that he is gonna be a prick"

"Moving on, there was a reason behind the fact there was no pokeball for you on he side there. Your's came yesterday evening, quite a surprise actually gave me a bit of scare when it's carrier turned up on my doorstep.

Ash was surprised at this, he didn't think he was going to get one at all 'I already have three Pokemon, why would I need another?'.

"You are getting a starter, you need to keep Gible and Larvitar under the radar for now, although the Pokemon is not one of mine" Oak said as if sensing his questions "and I couldn't give this particular one to anyone else, as it was sent for you."

Seeing the confused look on Ash's face the professor continued "a letter came with it detailing it was especially for you. It was carried by a rather large Charizard that was quite familiar..." Oak trailed off, before leaving a completely white pokeball and a letter on the desk that had once held the other three pokeballs.

Excitement showed in Ash's eyes as he quickly strode over to the table in anticipation of the letter and the contents of the pokeball from his mysterious benefactor, before he stopped dead in his tracks, by who had signed the letter.

Dear Son,

I am sorry I couldn't be with you on this momentous day, or any other day in your life so far. I have watched from a far keeping an eye on your exploits and I am truly sorry for what you have been through at the hands of the other children your age. You were such a happy child when I left full of innocence and life, however that was taken away from you too early. I know I used to say 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' but please don't take that literally and risk your life needlessly in your journey.

Over the years you have grown into a fine young man, but take it from me, don't shut out those who care about you like your mother and the professor, because they really do want to help. Learn from my mistakes. I was a loner until I met your mother not wanting to attach myself to anyone other than my Pokemon and I see much of that attitude in you. Don't let it come between you and the ones you love, yes your Pokemon are your family but so are the people around you.

In the pokeball that was with this letter is the child of Blaze (my Charizard) and one of the Charizard from Charific valley, I'm sure you will notice something different about it, this makes it a very valuable Pokemon even now in its state of weakness as just an infant. I have given him a start to training however he is still a clean slate as far as Pokemon go and is sure to be an monstrous ally when fully grown. Nurture and train him, although they are sometimes temperamental and arrogant there is no Pokemon more loyal and protective than a Charizard, I know from experience.

You wield the aura. Good luck to you, it is a difficult discipline to learn another thing I have learnt from experience although you seem to have much more of a gift for it than me, not really surprising considering Delia's family tree, you see Delia's cousin is the famous Queen Irene of Rota. Your Riolu will help you learning although you will need the help of an aura guardian eventually to further your training. You will know when you need the help.

Sorry again for not being there for you, I do have my reasons none that are really good enough though. I will see you soon.

With love,

Redorick Ketchum

'Red'

Ash's eyes hardened 'if he knew why didn't he ever help', he turned to the pokeball, before releasing it into the lab. Appearing in the flash that followed was a confused yellow-orange lizard.

"Where has Daddy gone?" the Charmander wailed, looking pleadingly at Ash for an answer. Ash's eyes softened at the sight of the distraught Pokemon.

"I'm sorry he left you hear for me, you see I'm about to go on a journey to train the strongest Pokemon and become the best trainer, and your Daddy thought it would be a good idea if you were to come with since you had so much strength since you came out of the egg." Ash said after he had kneeled down to be a the Charmander's height.

"Did he say that?" The Pokemon asked eagerly, thrilled to hear praise from its absent parent.

"He did, and he said that he loves you very much" Ash told him before scooping Charmander up (being careful to avoid the large flame on his tail) and enveloped the small Pokemon in a hug, then releasing him again.

At that professor entered the room carrying another red device which look much like the pokedexs he had given to the other kids although it was slightly different, being thinner and looking altogether like a cooler model.

"This is a national pokedex, i thought you might need one considering your team so far" Oak said walking up to Ash and handing him the sleek device "try it on him", looking completely unsurprised at the colouring of the Pokemon. Ash turned the device scanning the Charmander.

 **"I am a national pokedex assigned to Ashton Satoshi Ketchum by Professor Oak, his trainer number is 76849."**

 **Charmander the lizard Pokemon. From the time it is born, a flame burns in the tip of its tail. When it dies the flame goes out. This Charmander is female and has the ability Blaze. Charmander knows the moves: Scratch, Growl, Smokescreen and Ember. It has the egg move Blast Burn, but it has not been unlocked yet.**

 **This Pokemon is a shiny, you can tell this by the different colours and the slight increase in power compared to the normal Pokemon of its species.**

Oak whistled in amazement at the small Pokemon "a shiny and on top of that Blast Burn as an egg move, that is a seriously strong Pokemon Ash, Blast Burn is the most difficult technique for a fire type to learn, however it is also the most powerful, it is the equivalent of Hydro Cannon, Frenzy Plant and Hyper Beam for fire types" he exclaimed in excitement.

Ash ignored the overexcited professor walking up to the Pokemon "that's awesome little guy, I can see why your daddy thought you were so strong" Charmander blushed heavily under the praise, whilst looking slightly cautiously at the Professor who looked as if he was about to wet himself, following his gaze Ash whispered in the Pokemon's "don't mind him, he's just little bit odd, all professors are".

"I heard that" Oak said "and by the way, your a professor too now" Ash had recently got a qualification to become a field professor for Professor Oak so that he could have extra space in his party an be able to study Pokemon for Oak on his journey through all of the different regions.

Ignoring the Professor's dig at him Ash continued to comfort the young Pokemon, until he was calm enough to return him to his pokeball. The Professor just watched 'he's so good with Pokemon, why can't he be like this around me and other people?'. When the professor had first met Ash he had been a bright, vibrant and trusting child even if he was a little dim. Now he was a shell of his former self quiet, cold and cautious about everything, particularly humans; when it came to Pokemon it was almost as if he returned to his former self caring, compassionate and now intelligent enough to back it up.

After comforting the new addition to his team Ash returned the charmander to his pokeball and was turning to leave, before he hesitated as if forgetting something, he grabbed 5 pure white pokeballs from the desk at the side of the lab. Ash had created these pokeballs for his journey to help his Pokemon, they change colour, gradually getting darker as the Pokemon inside gets stronger until they are jet black. They were I between the strength of a great ball and a pokeball so they were plenty good enough for this stage of his journey.

Once Ash had picked up his pokeballs he said farewell to the Professor and started his walk home to see his mother before he left on his journey. He managed to avoid Gary who was standing near the entrance to route one seemingly waiting for Ash. Ash sneered at him before starting the walk towards his house. Once he got into his garden he released his three older Pokemon.

"Do you have to do that every time we go into a town boss" Gible asked, none to happy about being returned without a warning. The other to Pokemon agreed with the as they were both less than impressed with their trainer's actions.

"We are not going through this again guys, I've already explained to you why you can't go into towns" Ash exclaimed irritated by his pokemon's question. He had already explained to all three of them that the couldn't go into Pallet because they were rare and would be targeted by poachers, as well as they fact he didn't want the other kids to know about his advantage in regards to his journey, particularly Gary. "We have a new addition, be nice, welcome him to the team he's quite young and shy at the moment, although I'm sure that will change. I have to go and speak to mum before we leave." Ash released his charmander introducing him to the rest of the team, the little Pokemon seemed quite star struck by the size of his compatriots, once he was introduced Ash entered the house leaving them to their own devices.

"Mum I'm back" Ash called into the house, walking into the kitchen where he assumed his mum was, she was making pokechow for his journey "Mum you really don't need to do that I've already got loads and you've taught me how to make more".

"I know, I know but I'm worried and it takes my mind off the fact you're leaving" his mum replied whilst washing her hands of the berry mixture. Delia had taught Ash to cook and make pokechow during the time he had been learning under Professor Oak, she used to be a Pokemon breeder so she a,ready knew how to make pokechow and her cooking was legendary throughout Pallet.

"Why the long face Ashy" she noticed Ash's pained look when she turned round.

"This" Ash said before putting the letter down on the counter, "did you know he was coming with this" Delia walked up to the letter and read it in silence, Ash leaned against the wall expecting an answer.

"Yes I knew he was coming, after all it was my idea for him to give you one of the eggs from Blaze's clutch, but I didn't know he had been watching you" Delia turned to look at Ash.

"Why didn't you well me?" Ash questioned in a deathly quiet voice, he was seething underneath, he deserved to know.

"Because he didn't want you to know and he believed it would be safer if you didn't see him" Delia firmly replied tears in her eyes at the thought of her long missing husband.

Ash's eyes hardened and he left the room going up to his bedroom and collecting al, his stuff from his table, including his pokenav which had been a joint gift from his mother and Professor Oak for his last birthday. Once he had gathered everything he walked back down the stairs, where his mother was waiting at the bottom. Ash walked past he saying nothing, when he reached threshold he turned around.

"Bye Mum" he said in a cold voice showing no emotion, he turned and walked out the door shutting it behind him.

"Bye Ashy, enjoy your journey" Delia whispered to an empty house in between sobs.

"Come on guys were going" Ash said returning all four Pokemon at once as he stormed towards Pallet town and route one. He reached it in record time only taking around five minutes, Gary had obviously got bored of waiting and left fortunately, otherwise Ash might have punched him.

Ash paused for a moment looking back to his house where he could just see the smoke coming out of the chimney, before he shook his head turned around and took his first steps on to route one and the beginning of his journey.

Pokemon so far:

Pupitar (giant):

Ability: Shed skin

Moves: Bite, Dark pulse, Rock slide, Leer and Sandstorm

Egg move (s): Superpower and Dragon Claw

Personality: sarcastic, but serious when it comes to training and battling

Meeting: Egg in forest around Pallet Town

Gabite (giant):

Ability: Sand Veil

Hidden ability: Rough skin

Moves: Bite, Sand attack and Growl

Egg move (s): Draco meteor and Earthquake

Personality: Very friendly thinks he is the strongest in the world

Meeting: Egg in forest around Pallet Town

Riolu (all black):

Ability: Steadfast

Hidden ability: Prankster

Moves: Endure, Foresight, Force Palm and Quick Attack

Egg move (s): Sky Uppercut

Personality: Insightful and Friendly

Meeting: Pokemon coral before journey

Charmander (Shiny):

Ability: Blaze

Moves: Growl, Scratch, Ember and Smokescreen

Egg move (s): Blast burn

Personality: focused on getting stronger although is quite friendly

Meeting: Starter from Prof. Oak/Red

 **Sorry about the long wait guys, I had planned to get this one out by Christmas, but I had to revise for my A level mocks, which went pretty well. Pokemon wise, Ash will not have a team filled with just pseudo legendaries, it will cover most of the different types and it will be pretty powerful. Thanks for all of the support and positive reviews. Also 10000 whoop whoop, made it at last.**


	4. Reluctant Saviour

**Hello again. Ash was a bit cold at the end of the last chapter wasn't he. I like this chapter a lot more and it was a lot easier to write due to the fact Ash was actually on his journey. Thanks for all the reviews again, I love reading them.**

It was raining gently when Ash finally released Riolu, he had already walked over a kilometre from Pallet and the other three trainers were well in front of him on the road to Viridian. In the half an hour he had been walking he had seen many Pokemon; Pidgeys, Rattatas and Spearows frequented the road, however none had really caught his interest or stood out from the crowd.

Ash wanted his team to eventually have a large type coverage so there would be no obvious weaknesses when he got to the conference, all four of his Pokemon so far were different types and had the ability to evolve into dual types. Pidgeys were the most likely candidate as he no normal or flying types so far, apart from a potential Charizard, however they were very commonly caught by other trainers as Pidgeot was a monster on the battlefield that many trainers used due to their mix of lightning speed and they were very easy to train from their pre-evolved forms.

'What do you think Riolu, any of these Pidgeys look promising?' Ash communicated through the bond with the small jackel.

'All have potential master, but none have the ability to stand out from the rest of their species' the jackal informed him once he had scanned their auras giving him a general assessment of the different pokemon's strength and character

Ash continued to walk along the well trodden path, until he stopped and turned to his Pokemon 'do you think I was wrong walking out on my Mum like that' he asked the small Pokemon, looking for solace in the pokemon that acted years his senior even though it was just an infant.

Riolu turned to him 'it is your choice master, yes she didn't tell you what mattered to you most and she knew it would hurt you' Riolu paused for thought before continuing 'but perhaps she did it protect you and your vision of your father'.

'But she betrayed me' Ash exclaimed 'All the others didn't care, so I didn't care. But she was the one person who I cared about, the one person I let in and now she's broken that trust. All I wanted was to meet my father, but no she denied me that' Ash bemoaned.

'Master, you and I both know your memma would never do something to push you away like this unless she had a motive' Riolu reasoned 'she would never hurt you like that and you know it' Riolu stated starting to get tired of his trainers attitude towards the situation. Riolu knew Ash had trust issues because of his upbringing but it never gave him a reason to doubt and push his memma away.

Ash stalked on in stony silence choosing not to acknowledge his pokemon's reasoning 'he must have got the stubborn streak a mile wide from his father' Riolu thought.

'Why?' Ash thought as he steadfastly carried on along the path in the rain 'why does everybody hate me? What did I ever do to Gary and the other kids?' His thoughts continued slowly getting darker 'why did he leave? Everything that ever happened could have been stopped if he was there' Ash started to cry, he hadn't done this since he was 8, shows of emotion just encouraged his bullies, so he locked them away and became in essence a living statue apart from when he was around his pokemon or he was at home. tears ran down his face at the memories of his life so far. When suddenly the clouds opened up and a large bird flew through them that he had never seen before.

The birds wings were like rainbows each of its feathers glistening in the sun as it shone through the clouds like a halo on the bird creating a rainbow with the rain, which the majestic bird rode along. Ash fumbled for his pokedex, almost dropping it in his haste to scan this new Pokemon. He raised it.

 **Ho-Oh the legendary rainbow pokemon of Johto. Ho-Oh's feathers glow in seven colors depending on the angle at which they are struck by light. These feathers are said to bring happiness to the bearers. This Pokémon is said to live at the foot of a rainbow.**

Ho-Oh flew along the rainbow getting closer to Ash, before it sharply turned away, ruffling its wings as it did, a feather dropped from them as the bird turned away from the boy. The Ho-Oh disappeared as quickly as it had appeared disappearing up into the clouds as recovered and once again the sky greyed.

The feather continued its slow descent towards Ash, neither Pokemon nor trainer said a word as they watched it drop towards Ash still stunned by the display they had witnessed just a few seconds before. The feather finally reached Ash and it dropped into his right hand. Suddenly he felt a hot pain on the back of his right shoulder.

The pain increased till it was no longer bearable, even with Ash's high pain tolerance, it was as if he was being marked, as Ash passed out he heard a whisper 'hope', before his vision blackened and he passed out from the pain radiating from the back of his right shoulder.

Ash slowly opened his eyes, everything was blurry and out of focus, his shoulder still hurt like a bitch. It was dark apart from a small glow off to his right, he groaned in pain. At the noise there was a lot of movement around him, he continued to lay there as he heard snippets of conversation around him.

When everything finally came back into focus he saw four pairs of eyes all looking down at him, two pairs were filled with glee, one pair with worry and the other looked curious.

"Why are you lying on the floor dada?" He heard someone ask from close by, then he heard laughing in the background which brought him back to his senses.

Ash gradually sat up looking at the four pokemon around him, he groaned again "finally decided to wake up did ya boss?" Pupitar asked "did ya have a nice sleep whilst we were stuck here waiting for you ya lazy slaking" he snarked.

"how long have I been out guys?" Ash asked, curious as to how long he had been out to make Pupitar so annoyed.

"It is just coming to the end of the second moon master, the sun is just about to rise on the third day since we left home" Riolu responded, he had managed to open up the three other pokeballs whilst his master was unconscious and set up a makeshift camp and fire using Charmander's tail flame to keep them warm. They were in a large field with a few substantial trees in it, obviously off he beaten track judging by the dense woodland all around them apart from a single charred passage.

Realising just how long it had been Ash reached into his pack and pulled a box out of one of the compartments, he started tipping out small mountains of pokechow for the two pseudos along with two smaller piles one for Riolu and a specialist fire type pokechow for Charmander as they had different digestive systems to everyone else.

The box of pokechow acted much like a pokeball compartmentalising all the different foods types and shrinking them like a pokemon in a pokeball, that's how trainers were able to travel large distances with just a rucksack. He had this technology on all of his bags and packs. His rucksack was from Silph co. and it had 7 compartments all for different things like pokeballs, pokechow, tents, human food and anything else useful he carried.

"Thank Arceus, he actually has a brain" pupitar commented again.

"Just shut up and eat pinecone" gabite replied in Ash's stead from beside the floating pokemon, before they both started digging into their food after pupitar had shot a glare at the blue pokemon. Once everyone had finished Ash packed their bowls/tubs away.

By the time they had finished eating and preparing for the day the sun had started to rise and it was beginning to become lighter.

Ash opened up another compartment and took out what look like 5 small grey balls, both pupitar and gabite groaned at the sight of them "time for some training guys, you need to get used to your new bodies", he attached the weights to the two pokemon on gabite's arms, pupitar's spikes and onto Riolu's back "10 times around the field guys, I'll catch you in a minute" he stated. The weights also used the same mechanism as the pokeball, he had set them so they weighed 20 kilos each for Riolu and 100 kilos each for both gabite and pupitar, all three pokemon started jogging around the field without complaint.

Ash turned and scanned charmander again looking at her moves "not bad, now we're going to run through the moves you know to see how well you can do them, is that okay?" Ash asked her.

She nodded nervously "I want you to go to that tree and use scratch please" Ash said, charmander walked over to the tree channeling energy into her claws until they glowed white, before she slashed the tree, making six deep indentations in the trunk.

Ash whistled obviously impressed by the depth of the scratch marks for a pokemon so young "impressive" he said praising the orange lizard "now can you use ember". Charmander paused for a bit channeling energy from her fire core to her mouth, before breathing a powerful if small flame, charring the wood where she had just scratched.

"Good" Ash once again was impressed by the young pokemon, although it could have been larger the ember had a large amount of heat and had managed to burn through the bark on the large tree, all indications of a powerful attack "could you use smokescreen now please" watching charmander as she prepared the attack.

Charmander concentrated, this was her new move that she had learned only a few days before meeting her daddy. Slowly she built up a black ball in her mouth and condensed it before releasing it into the surrounding air successfully.

Ash looked at the smokescreen, it was obviously her newest move judging by the concentration and time it took. Also the smokescreen just wasn't large enough to cover a battlefield and hide he r flame, Ash smiled at his newest addition, it was a very promising base to work from. He didn't need to help teach the move growl, that would just become with age and size as it worked as an intimidatory factor.

"All of them were brilliant, although smokescreen is your newest move isn't it" Ash asked looking up the techniques for learning the move on his pokedex.

"Yeah, I just learnt it before it was sent to you, sorry" charmander looked down obviously disappointed that Ash had been able to realise. Ash finished reading the passage on smokescreen and looked up at his pokemon.

"Hey hey, come on it was awesome it's really difficult to master a new move quickly, especially when your so young" Ash was amazed at how smaller time frame the smokescreen had taken to get to this stage, the first part to actually get the smoke was the most difficult bit, as it required igniting a fire within the pokemon's body so it could produce smoke, after that it was all just repetition and guidance that was needed "it will take hardly anytime at all to master it since you got the most difficult part out of the way".

Charmander looked up hopefully, "really" she questioned.

"Really" Ash replied reassuring the pokemon "all you need to do is increase the size of the fire you created inside of you so it produces more smoke faster" coaching charmander with the move "you will need to concentrate on holding the ball of smoke until it is concentrated enough before releasing it in front of you" he explained.

After thinking for a while and looking into her core at how she created the smoke for smokescreen, she realised Ash was correct. She tried to replicate what Ash had told her, at first all she got was a mouthful of smoke and a coughing fit. Eventually after about 10 tries and a lot of praise from Ash she managed to perform a more powerful smokescreen than her original.

"Now I want you to keep practising that, whilst I go an talk to the other guys" whilst he had been working with charmander two of his three other Pokemon had finished their laps. Gabite had finished comfortably in first, followed by riolu and then pupitar was lagging behind and still had a lap to go.

"This new body is awesome boss" gabite called from where he was standing leaning on a tree off to the right of Ash he had finished quite a while ago, his body had changed to suit speed a lot more although he still needed to work on it. While the two giants massively outclassed all pokemon of their species in regards to power, they weren't as quick or nimble, this is why they practically lived with weights on so when they took them off they would be a lot quicker for battle. Some might say this was in humane treatment, but Ash believed it was what they needed and both of his Pokemon agreed however little they liked the situation.

"You're up first as you finished first" Ash said looking at gabite "use slash on that tree", gabite turned towards the tree Ash had pointed at, his arm turned white and he unleashed a massively over powered slash on the unsuspecting tree. It not only cutting completely through the trunk,but also destroying most of the tree.

"Nice" gabite called looking at his arm with an expression akin to wonder, it was hugely more powerful than when he was a Gible.

All gabite's moves continued in this vein, his Dragon rage had actually managed to erase what was left of the tree from existence. All his moves massively overpowered and wasteful as of regards to energy, it was the same result for pupitar, who had finished his laps by the time gabite had finished running through his moves.

Once they had both finished running through their moves Ash sat them down "you both need to work on your control, everyone of those moves were very wasteful as of regards to energy use" He explained to them "gabite I want you to cut a ring around the field using slash constantly, whilst pupitar I want you too constantly use rock slide on Riolu, try to control the size of your rocks so that Riolu can practise his karate chop"' karate chop was Riolu's most recent move and it needed brushing up and practise so he could master it, "Riolu just continue practising your karate chop till you master it".

Ash had realised a while ago there wasn't much he could do to help Riolu train, he was a fighting type and therefore Ash could only do so much looking up the techniques on his pokedex or computer fighting types were different to normal types in that they were a lot more skilled and precise than their counterparts, however for now it was fine as his Pokemon wasn't overly strong and he could cope just by using normal techniques to help refine.

His three Pokemon listened to his directions before going off to carry them out, whilst Ash walked back over to charmander, Ash would be doing most of the training with him for now as he was the youngest and weakest of their group, add to the fact she was also at a disadvantage to the first three gyms and Ash realised she needed a lot of guidance.

"Charmander, I want you to use smokescreen in front of you", concentrating the orange lizard fired a smokescreen, it was a lot quicker and covered a larger area than when Ash last saw it about 15 minutes ago "that's great girl", there was a massive improvement but it was but no means mastered.

For the next couple of hours Ash worked with Charmander going through her moves improving their power and accuracy by firing at rocks and other debris created by pupitar's rock slides, whilst his other Pokemon ran through their moves trying to control them better and still getting use their new bodies. Riolu ended up meditating trying to strengthen his bond with aura to further enhance his aura augmented moves like Force Palm.

By the end of training all of Ash's Pokemon were worn out. Once Ash had given them all lunch he set off away from the now not quite so picturesque clearing that was covered by rocks, however it was now quite a lot larger thanks to gabite going around the edge of it using slash.

It took Ash about ten minutes to get back to the path and on his way towards Viridian City.

Ash had been in the road for about 2 hours now, it was mid-afternoon judging by the sun 'note to self get a watch when you get to Viridian'. It had started to rain again, quite hard. Ash quickened his pace his Pokemon all out around him, realising this he returned charmander since the rain hurt her.

Suddenly Ash heard a scream coming from the woods off to the right of the path "What was that?" Ash asked his pokemon making sure he hadn't just been hearing things.

All three of them shrugged not knowing "We'd better go check it out" Ash said reluctantly, he couldn't rightly leave someone in danger because of his abnormally large conscience, his mum called it 'his saving pokemon thing'. They had found out from a young age that Ash would do just about anything for a pokemon if it was in danger.

Ash turned a jogged towards where the scream came from, when he heard a roar that made his blood run cold "Gyarados" he muttered under his breath, then he heard another scream and he broke into an all out sprint towards the noises pupitar, gabite and Riolu close behind him.

Bursting out of the trees he saw a small lake with a waterfall in the corner of it and a river heading off on the opposite side towards the sea in between Pallet Town and the Seafoam Islands, more importantly he saw a girl with brown hair and a white Pokemon wide brim hat on her head laying at the base of the waterfall with a Gyarados towering over her charging a hyper beam.

"gabite, go use dragon rage full power" he yelled abandoning all caution a the sight which befell him. Gabite shed its weights immediately dashing at great pace towards the massive sea serpent. A massive burst of blue draconian energy erupted from gabite's mouth striking the serpent in the side disrupting the charging hyper beam making the Pokemon fire it's move prematurely and wide of the target.

Whilst this was happening Ash and his other two Pokemon had run to the girl's side, who was still staring at the atrocious Pokemon eyes wide with fear "pupitar dark pulse, Riolu force Palm, keep it off me whilst I get her away", they turned towards the larger Pokemon to see that it had shaken gabite's dragon rage off already like it was a fly. The giant Pokemon fired off a hydro pump towards the jet Pokemon, which backed off quickly avoiding the high pressure stream of water.

Ash's other Pokemon both simultaneously jumped into action pupitar fired his dark pulse at its head whilst Riolu leaped towards it landing a powerful force palm on its under, this forced the Pokemon back into the surf away from the injured girl.

Gyarados returned fire its mouth filled with sharp teeth covered in dark energy, it looked like a Crunch attack heading towards gabite, "gabite dodge to the side, pupitar with it with a rock slide whilst its distracted" Ash had quickly gauged that the Pokemon they were fighting was way out their league, there was no way he could capture it or defeat it for that matter, only force it away.

Gyarados' crunch attack passed harmlessly to the left of gabite who had strafed to the right avoiding the attack, whilst pupitar's rock slide slammed into the serpents side making it cry out in pain at the super effective attack.

"Keep it busy guys" Ash called from the side of the lake "Leaf" Ash called having recognised the girl now he was close enough "can you hear me", Leaf turned to Ash eyes still wide before she pointed off further down the beach, he looked where she was pointing and saw a small green lump on the sand laying their still. Leaf handed him a pokeball before she passed out.

Ash ran over to the Bulbasaur, it had a large burn on the right side of its face, Ash judged that it had taken a full power thunderbolt to the face for it's trainer, to do that for a trainer after just 3 days shows the trust the pair had managed to build. Pokemon were always a good judge of character so perhaps he was wrong about Leaf, he returned the small grass type to suspended animation to stop anymore damage occurring before it could be treated.

He turned to survey the battle, Riolu was lying on his side on the beach, looking like he had just been hit by a train whilst both gabite and pupitar where still in the fight with the giant creature, which still looked willing to go on. They were a lot hardier than Riolu due to their size and the fact they had been training with Ash for longer.

Gyarados just missed with a hyper beam it had charged and it was vulnerable as it was recharging "Gabite, Pupitar hit it whilst it's recharging, use dragon rage and rock slide make it your strongest yet" both Pokemon let out a cry of their names pupitar released a massive Avalanche of rocks, whilst gabite released a stream of blue flames even larger than the one previous" as one they came into contact with the sea serpent.

Being hit by two seriously strong attacks made the Gyarados scream out in pain and realise it wasn't worth the effort for such a small meal, as a parting shot it released a hydro pump which slammed into pupitar knocking the hard shell Pokemon out cold, before it dived back into the lake and disappeared back up the river towards the Kanto sea.

Ash rushed over to the seen of the battle momentarily forgetting Leaf, he checked over al, his Pokemon, pupitar had suffered the worst taking that last hydro pump straight on, it left bits of its shell chipped by the attack, whilst Riolu had taken a thrash in the side which had knocked him out of the battle on to the lake. Ash quickly returned those two Pokemon letting them rest in suspended animation till he could get to a Pokemon centre, Gabite was fine having avoided the worst of the Gyarados' moves only a thunderbolt had clipped him, but it had no effect as he was a ground type.

Now he had checked his Pokemon he turned back to Leaf, to his horror ear injuries looked a lot worst than he expected 'the hyper beam must have clipped her', she had burns all down her right arm, everything else was fine.

"Gabite I need you to pick up Leaf and run with me to Viridian, that arm needs treatment urgently, otherwise it will be permanently scarred" Ash said a little bit panicked by the state of Leaf's arm.

"Boss I could run ahead" gabite said worry etched into his face at the state of the teenager in his arms, Ash almost said yes before he thought that it would look like Gabite had burned Leaf if he was alone when he entered the city, add the fact he was a giant and he could be in danger if Ash wasn't there with him.

"Nah, I'm just grabbing all her stuff and putting it in my pack" Ash grabbed all her stuff and out it in a separate compartment including her own pack and her pokeballs, "let's go".

Viridian was a good 10 kilometres from where they were Ash found out using his pokenav whilst they were running, fortunately Ash was extremely fit for a sixteen year old, after training with his two starters for the past 4 years.

Gabite easily kept pace with Ash and they got to the edges of the city within about 2 hours, on the edge of the city Ash returned Gabite putting the Pokemon back in his ball, before he continued towards the city with Leaf in his arm, carrying her bridal style. It was much slower going.

Upon arrival in the city Ash spotted a green haired woman standing next to a motorbike. Ash instantly recognised her as one of the Officer Jenny's that littered the region on the police force.

As Ash approached her she called out "halt, what are you doing with that girl" obviously suspicious that a sixteen year old boy was carrying a girl the same age out of the wilderness.

"She was attacked by a Gyarados, I scared it off with my Pokemon" Ash said monotonously adopting his mask he used around people of aloof disregard "she was caught by a disrupted hyper beam and her Pokemon, a young Bulbasaur was hit full on by a thunderbolt from the serpent" he explained to the officer.

Quickly assessing the situation to be serious Jenny exclaimed "get on the bike I know where the pokmon centre is, where she and her Pokemon can be treated", accepting the course of action although none to happy with it Ash grudgingly got on the bike still holding Leaf in his arms. Ash had never liked motor bikes and the Jenny's were infamous for being less than safe drivers.

Jenny drove like a madman as was expected and it took them about 5 minutes from the edge of the city to get to the Pokemon centre, where Ash quickly rushed in looking for the local Nurse Joy, who he had met on errands for the Professor previously.

Quickly locating the red-headed nurse he called "Nurse Joy, I need help. This girl was attacked by a Gyarados and has suffered some serious burns on her right arm".

A hospital bed was quickly found and the last Ash saw of Leaf was her on an IV drip heading towards surgery. Her arm would be fine thanks to the recently discovered ditto cell treatment, that was often used in potions, some doctors managed to convert it for human use.

Once Leaf and her Pokemon had been sent to the emergency theatre Ash then turned to Nurse Joy, "Can you heal my Pokemon please?" He asked "and a key to a single room?" as an afterthought.

"Of course" she said with a smile and pressed a button on her desk as well a grabbing a key from a stack passing it too Ash. Pokemon centres all had rooms specially for trainers which were free due to the league paying for them. A moment later a Chansey came out of the back room, pushing a cart with several indentations were pokeballs could sit. Ash retrieved all his pokeballs from his belt placing them on the indents.

The Chansey walked away from him back into the back room with his pokeballs, whilst Ash went to call Professor Oak, they had a lot to catch up on even though it hadn't even been a week.

Ash approached the video phone station and dialled the number of the lab. After about 10 seconds of dialling it was picked up by one of the Professor's aides who Ash had worked with at the lab and on the corral.

"I suppose you want to speak to him, don't you?" The aide asked once he had determined that it was Ash calling.

"Yeah, could you put me through?" Ash asked, no greetings were exchanged, Ash had never made any effort to connect with anyone at the lab apart from Oak.

"Ash, you're in Viridian already?" Oak asked slightly surprised at the turn of events "I thought you were going to spend some time training on route one?"

 **Well route 1 is complete now and this was a slightly longer chapter. Sorry for the wait I have been working on this slowly due to my exam revision for A levels. Thanks for all the support again.**


End file.
